Police nab 20 for suspected involvement in loansharking activities
Posted: 15 November 2012 2027 hrs
SINGAPORE: 20 people have been arrested for suspected involvement in loansharking activities.
13 men and 4 women, aged between 20 and 60, were arrested separately in Jurong West, Woodlands and Teck Whye.
They are believed to have opened bank accounts and given away their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to loansharks to facilitate their businesses.
The suspects are believed to be either borrowers or guarantors and had agreed to assist the loansharks either for monetary gains or to offset their debts.
Another man, aged 42, was arrested near Serangoon Centre Drive. He is suspected to be a debtor-turned-runner and he is believed to have assisted the loan syndicates to perform electronic funds transactions via ATMs.
At the time of his arrest, he had in his possession eleven ATM cards and one mobile phone containing suspected debtors' information. The man will be charged in court tomorrow.
Another man was arrested at Hougang Avenue 9. The 39-year-old suspect is a debtor-turned-runner and had given away his ATM cards and PIN to a loansharking syndicate to facilitate the business of unlicensed moneylending.
Police also arrested a 66-year-old woman near Sembawang Crescent. The suspect is believed to be a debtor who had used her previous residential address to obtain illegal loans from loansharks. This caused the occupants of her previous home to be harassed by loansharks.
The woman is also being investigated for failing to report the change of her residential address under the National Registration Act.
Investigations against the 19 suspects are ongoing.
First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender, may be fined between S$30,000 and S$300,000, be jailed up to four year, and be given six strokes of the cane.
Any person found guilty of failing to report a change of address can be fine up to S$5,000 or be jailed up to five years or both.
- CNA/lp
